Lewis Martin Runs 9th Fastest Time in the Country for 10k — Provisionally Qualifies for NCAA Track Championships

     Lees-McRae College’s Lewis Martin joined the list of Bobcat track athletes who have qualified for the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships with his 10k (6.2 mile) performance April 6 at the Asics Duke Invitational. His time of 30:44 is the 9^th fastest time in Division II this spring and a 1:10 improvement over his best ever time.
     Martin, a red-shirt junior, from Charlottesville, VA, ran a consistent pace with a strong finish to get a qualifying time, thus becoming the 7th male athlete from Lees-McRae to qualify for the track championships. The 2004 4x 100m team, Greg Galloway (200m) and All-American Brian Knapp (800/1500m) are previous NCAA qualifiers.  “He ran a very methodical, precise race and a lot of the hard work and dedication he has committed to, was rewarded with this performance,” said Coach Craig McPhail.  “We’ll have to wait and see if this is good enough to get him to Charlotte for the championships in May.” 
     To put things into perspective, the best way is to dissect the numbers of a race of this length. His high school personal best time in a 5k (3.1 miles) was 17:04, on Friday night he ran his first 5k in 15:20 and his second in 15:24.  Some more numbers to further prove how demanding and unique this performance was for him can be witnessed with his 8k (4.97 miles) time of 24:20; whereas his cross country 8k personal best time is 25:23.  And finally, he averaged 4:56 a mile for 6.2 miles in the both mentally and physically grueling 25-lap race.  
     “This shows we are doing the right things with his training and development here at Lees-McRae,” McPhail said. “We believe we have the perfect place to develop talent and give student-athletes a chance to chase their dreams.”